A bit of advice for those making their first character

  • A bit of advice for those making their first character

    There are a couple of skills you should consider that aren't immediately on your obvious radar as crucial skills. These will save your hide time and again and should become part of your basic, power-gaming repertoir as skills you automatically buy for every character you make, if you're a min-max, power-gamer like me. These skills are:

    Acrobatics - allows you to move appreciable distances while making you harder to hit. Comes in handy often once you get used to flipping and tumbling all over battelfields like a deranged ninja.

    Dodge/Block- I can't believe that some people overlook or neglect this skill. SPEND BIG POINTS HERE! seriously, if possible have no less that six dice in this skill at all times. It iwll save your life in ambushes and when fighting tough opponents time and time again. Don't let it languish at it's 3 die everyman skill level. That's just bad gaming strategy. this is especially important if you're not a super martial arts fighter like an honor-guard.

    Escape - Another often overlooked skill. You know when that elephant or gorilla grabs you and begins to smash your body into intervening walls, trees, the ground and your teammates? This is the skill that gets you out of it. Buy it and be ready to use it. this is another 6 dicer in my opinion. Buy it up and be the slippery customer you were born to be. You don't wanna be the shmuck whoi get defeated by cheesy, gracie jiu-jitsu moves. Everybody laughs at that janah.

    That's the big three. Most of the other skills you want to make sure you get are pretty obvious. Let me take this moment to remind you combat characters to get duel dancing. You wont even think about it untill someone challenges you to spiral arena combat and then lays it out on you, costing you the start of the fight as they get free dice to kick your ass. Then you'll be all feeling like a chump for not buying it when you made your character. So buy it and use it. many NPCs don't have it and you can get the free bonus dice drop on them. Which is always impressive and cinematic. That's why you're playing the hero and they're playing the fodder.
    "Daggra" means "Enemy" in Tibetan.
    "Chora" means "Thief" in Sanskrit.

  • RE: A bit of advice for those making their first character

    Just some quick notes concerning Ghorüm's comments:

    Acrobatics: It DOES help you keep from getting damaged in combat... However,..it is NOT a movement skill, and doesn't actually represent any coverage of distance. It must be coupled with a Movement Skill action of some kind in order to cover distance (or your free "half movement" allowed once per round). Please read the Acrobatics skill description.

    Dodge/Block: This is indeed a good skill to possess, and can indeed be used as an Action instead of a typical martial skill roll when defending against any blow. It costs an Action, just like any standard Defense roll, and can be lower, higher, or the exact same value as one's Martial, or Brawl Skill. Usually it refers to defense against missiles and projectiles, however, and is different from Combat skills because it is meant to be equally effective when OUTSIDE of the combat round, such as dodging boulders or deflecting the projectiles of triggered traps, and surprise attacks and such, when you haven't actually rolled any Actions to use because you're not in combat yet.

    Escape: Please note in the description of the Escape skill (as opposed to the general Martial Maneuver of the same name), that it DOES NOT refer to escapes made while engaged in combat and grabbed by the opponent. It instead refers to attempts at escaping bonds such as being tied up or bound or in a cage or prison, etc. The Escape Skill takes at least a minute to perform. The Escape that I think you were thinking of, Ghorüm, is the martial maneuver that can be performed as part of the generic Martial Arts table, as well as with most martial Styles offered in the Magic and Martial Arts book. Please read the Escape skill description.

    Scottie ^^

  • RE: A bit of advice for those making their first character

    As a quick update... I noticed when I looked back over the rule for the Skill Dodge/Block, that it still had some wording in there alluding to "Active Defense", a concept from the older system of combat that is now obsolete. Please disregard this listing in the playtest version that you guys have as PDFs, and soon to be hard-cover. This is the version you should use:

    Dodge/Block- (Agl)
    This skill allows a character to attempt to dodge or block projectiles, hand-to-hand weapons, and other falling or flying objects both in and out of combat situations. Any such action is considered a Reaction or a Defense during a combat round, and is subject to all of the modifiers pertaining to the round itself, while the use of this skill outside the combat round is rolled at full dice in most circumstances. Unlike other combat related maneuvers and actions, whose dice are linked to the Characteristic the character’s martial style is related to, the Dodge/Block skill is a separate skill because it is linked only to Agility, and can be used both in and out of combat. There are specific Martial Maneuvers listed under specialized Martial Styles that can be listed as an Action, Reaction, or Defense, but these are only used in combat situations. This skill can be used in conjunction with Acrobatics. As it is also a Basic Starting Skill, the character is automatically assigned a beginning score of 3 for it without having to expend any Ability Points. Any score higher than that will have to be purchased in the standard way as described in the earlier sections.

    Scottie ^^